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At Patrol Base Volunteer in Baghdad, 19-year-old Ahmad Jaasm (left), an Iraqi National Guardsman, keeps interrupting Staff Sgt. Lawrence Gunn for spelling help as he pens a love letter to Gunn's 15-year-old daughter, Nyssa, in Oregon. The Iraqi guardsmen "have a cellphone and a couple of them called my daughter," Gunn explains, "Afterwards, she was, like, 'What was that?' They are in love and want to go to America and marry her." Gunn, 44, is with the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry of the Oregon National Guard and has been living with the Iraqi soldiers, training them and is now headed home on leave, carrying the love letter.
Photo By Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oreognian
